'We had hot and cold moments' - Positive finish in Vancouver eases some pain for Powell

Six tries against France and a victory over New Zealand in their last two matches at the HSBC Canada Sevens in Vancouver, as well as an improved finish than in Singapore a week before, pointed to a positive ending for the Blitzboks at the end of their trip to Asia and North America, but the overall performances were below par and can't be sugar-coated.

That was the frank assessment of Blitzboks Sevens coach, Neil Powell, at the completion of the fifth and sixth legs of the World Rugby Sevens Series in Singapore and Vancouver, where the Blitzboks saw an erosion of their overall lead on the standings to Argentina and Australia.

South Africa now lead the World Series by only six points on 111, with Argentina (105) and Australia (100) closing in. The Blitzboks could only harvest 23 league points in the last two tournaments, while Argentina gathered 35 and Australia 34 points over the same period.

Three tournaments remain, in Toulouse and London at the end of May and in Los Angeles late in August.

Powell was not looking at the standings only in his assessment of the Blitzboks' performances – after winning all three of their pool matches on the first day in Vancouver, the South Africans lost to Samoa in the Cup quarter-final before rebounding with wins against France and New Zealand to finish the tournament in fifth place overall.

"It was a tough two weeks and not something that we are happy about as a team," said Powell.

"We will have to ask tough questions to ourselves on what happened and what areas we need to improve on.

"As individuals, we will have a serious conversation on our performances, but also as a team, where we did not function as we should have.

"The way we finished in those last two matches remains a positive; we